(by Steve Hopkins)

Jonathan Groth, Sora Matsushima, and Chuang Chih-Yuan were the top seeds at the WTT Feeder Biella, but it was the fourth seed, Benedikt Duda, who claimed top honors at the last WTT Series Event of 2023. Top seed Groth fell to France’s Adrien Rassenfosse in the Round of 16.  In the tumultuous top-half of the draw, Rassenfosse then fell to Japan’s Ryoichi Yoshiyama in the Quarters and then Duda topped Yoshiyama in the Semis.  Earlier in Duda’s path to the Final, he should have faced second seed Sora Matsushima, but Sora fell in the opening round to another Frenchman, Florian Bourrassaud.

The bottom half of the draw was just as chaotic with World No. 196 Panagiotis Gionis reaching the Final after wins over Puerto Rico’s Angel Naranjo, France’s Stoyanov, India’s Achanta Kamal, Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan, and tournament third seed Chuang Chih-Yuan.  Despite the surprise of a Final between Germany’s 29 year old Duda and the 43 year old Greek Gionis, the two produced an exciting Final.  Gionis won the first game 14-12, Duda recovered early for an easy second game win (11-5).  The third game was a marathon that Duda eventually won 18-16.  Gionis established an early lead and held on 11-5 to tie the game score.  However, Duda could not be stopped in the final game – jumping out to an early lead and racing to the finish for the 11-3 victory.

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